Public Service Electric and Gas Co. (PSE&G) marked the completion of a rooftop solar installation at the utility’s Central Division Headquarters in Somerset, N.J. The 900-kilowatt system is one of six large solar-energy systems PSE&G is erecting on company-owned properties as part of its $515 million Solar 4 All program.

The Central Division Headquarters solar power system is composed of all U.S.-made panels: 648 traditional crystalline solar panels and 4,180 Solyndra cylindrical thin-film solar panels. The panels are capable of converting direct, diffuse and reflected sunlight into electricity by capturing sunlight across a 360-degree photovoltaic surface. They generate extra electricity from the building’s new white, reflective, “cool roof,” offering a conservation benefit and power-generation capability on the same rooftop.

The panels cover more than 101,000 square feet of roof space and are connected directly to the electric grid for the benefit of all PSE&G electric customers. The Central Division Headquarters system will produce enough electricity to power about 155 average-size homes.

Solyndra is among the leading solar panel manufacturing companies that PSE&G is using to help deploy solar-power systems across the state. Solis Partners, a developer of solar-energy projects located in Manasquan, N.J., is responsible for the design, engineering and deployment of both the white cool roof and solar-­photovoltaic systems for the Central Division Headquarters project.

In addition to Central Division Headquarters’ 900-kilowatt (kW) rooftop solar system, PSE&G is building a 700-kW solar-power system at its Edison Training and Development Center facility in Edison, N.J., where roof, ground, carport and pole-attached systems are installed. The utility also has four large, ground-mounted solar farms in service on PSE&G-owned properties. Each is among the largest solar farms developed in New Jersey, and three are built on remediated brownfields.

In little more than a year, PSE&G has added more than 35 megawatts of solar-power capacity in New Jersey with Solar 4 All.

“These projects have helped provide stability to the state’s solar market and have made New Jersey a center for renewable energy in the United States,” said Al Matos, PSE&G’s vice president—Renewables and Energy Solutions.

The Solar 4 All program is a cost-effective way to develop solar energy. The financial benefits—federal tax investment credits, sale of the energy and capacity to PJM and the solar environmental credits (SRECs)—are returned to PSE&G electric ratepayers, reducing the cost of the program.